Millwall boss confident no squad holes after January transfer window trading – with Chelsea defender having opportunity to impress

Millwall head coach Alex Neil does not feel that there were any areas of the squad left short after the winter transfer window closed.

The Lions had a hectic trading period with eight additions.

Our paper reported that the South Londoners had shown interest in taking Anfernee Dijksteel on loan but his parent club Middlesbrough did not allow the right-back to move as they failed to reinforce that area themselves.

Millwall have Ryan Leonard and Danny McNamara both injured – the latter will not feature again this season – but January signing Tristan Crama, a centre-back, has performed admirably in the full-back spot.

Asked if there were any positions that failed to be adequately addressed in the window, Neil told the South London Press: “No, I don’t think so.

“I’ll tell you the reason for why, any right-back I brought in right now isn’t going to start ahead of Tristan Crama. It’s really as simple as it is. We’re expecting Lenny back probably by the end of March. We have Wes (Harding) as back-up on that side as well.

“What we did do was that we needed to cover off left-back. That became more of a priority than the right-back scenario.

“With the greatest of respect at right-back, with the way we play at the moment, because we are bumping it up on that side and are flattening it on the left – we have got more players who could do that on the right, than we could on the left, in my opinion.

“The fact that we have signed players permanently is really good. You find that a lot of loan business is done in January.

“Don’t get me wrong, they’re important. The way I view a loan as well is that you want to take one you could potentially make permanent going forward in the future.

“For instance, Zak Sturge coming in. He’s six-feet plus, left-footed, can run and be physical. You’re looking at Zak and thinking: ‘He’s got an opportunity until the end of the season to impress here.’ Whether it be us, or someone else, who tries to make it permanent will be down to him.”